In the broad field of people transit systems, there exists many and varied types of transportation available. Transportation has evolved over the years from horse to carriage to mechanized transports of many kinds. One category of the many available systems could be those which are confined to operate via a track, and more particularly those operated from an overhead track. Examples of such transportation systems can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,841,871 and 3,118,392. In all of the track mounted vehicles, the vehicles are guided place to place by interaction between the track and vehicle in combination with switching systems. The switching has become automated over the years to the extent that much of the track operation is remotely controlled from a central location. While this system is efficient in terms of providing a coordinated use of track and vehicles, is does not lend itself to flexibility, ease of construction or maintenance, or low cost. As such, the design and installation of track systems is always accompanied by great deliberation, fund raising, and much politicking for and against the system.
The present invention proposes an overhead track guidance system for personal transit vehicles wherein the track is a standard assembly which can be inexpensively erected, maintained, and flexibly replaced, re-erected, etc. The primary virtue of the present system being the passive design of the track with respect to switching and guidance of the vehicle. The track merely supports the vehicle while the station selection function, station turn in and departure, and fail safe default operations are executed by the guidance system on board the vehicle. Hence the track does not have costly monitoring features for switching, and the associated drawbacks of switch failure, ie, sections of track rendered unusable until maintenance is performed. Further, owing to the passive operation of the track with respect to vehicle guidance, the vehicles do not require a large space between them during system operation to allow for track switching for following vehicles.